Fox video-on-demand app comes to Xbox 360

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Customers who own an Xbox 360, have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, as well as either a paid TV service through Dish or Verizon FiOS, can now watch their favorite shows the day after they air. That is, of course, assuming their favorite shows happen to consist of a mix of Gordon Ramsay reality TV and adult-themed network cartoons. As you may have guessed, the Fox Broadcast app is now available on Xbox Live.

Because it’s on the Xbox 360, complete Kinect integration has been included. So you are able to wave or speak your way through the different content options and to control video playback without finding the remote. Users just need to authenticate an existing Dish or Verizon Fios account through the app in order to access the content. Additional cable and satellite providers could be added, but don’t hold your breath for the more traditional companies like Time Warner Cable to jump on board any time soon.

Streaming video offerings, even those with access to content the day after it airs on live TV, are certainly nothing new anymore. Services like Hulu Plus are also available on the Xbox 360. However, this channel of direct distribution between Microsoft and a major network feeds into the narrative that the next Xbox has designs to effectively be its own cable box.

So far, no network has been willing to give up its content without being sure to require users to still have a cable or satellite service account. This is something that could change in the next console generation, but even if it doesn’t, it’s not that difficult to imagine an Xbox 720 that can literally act as your Comcast or Cablevision cable box.